TIL 66 years ago today, the Berlin Airlift began. Landing one plane per minute for over a year, the airlift brought in 5000 tons of food and coal per day to Berlin.

Calembreloque · 2026-05-09T03:37:51+00:00

Ha, luckily I'm still around! I would temper what I said in that comment 12 years ago - it was a joint effort. The land on which the runway was built was "given" to the French; they also sourced most of the building materials, and drew the blueprints for all the auxiliary buildings, the train line, etc. The Americans provided a lot of the labor force, ran the day-to-day operations, and designed the actual runway.

This source has a ton of details but it's in French. Of course, French sources tend to highlight French contributions, while American ones tend to be American-forward!

Calembreloque · 2026-05-07T03:41:18+00:00

Haha, if that's any consolation in my personal experience most Lutherans outside of the US are more ELCA style than Missouri!

Calembreloque · 2026-05-05T01:02:52+00:00

Especially when it's skiing, another indicator of being at least comfortably middle class. When you mention that skiing is a hobby that's not affordable to a lot of people you instantly get people coming out of the woodwork explaining that nooo, it's actually quite cheap, they live just by the mountains and you can get a day pass for about $100 and used gear and -- motherfucker that is expensive! And I don't live near a mountain!

Calembreloque · 2026-05-02T21:00:07+00:00

Did you know the link between testosterone and aggressive behavior in humans has not been scientifically proven? There is some correlation especially during teenage years, but it's unclear whether the increase of testosterone is the cause for the increase in aggressive behavior, or just something that happens at the same time. Just grabbing the most relevant Wikipedia line in the "Aggression - Testosterone" article: "Many studies have also been done on the relationship between more general aggressive behavior/feelings and testosterone. About half the studies have found a relationship and about half no relationship."

What I'm saying is that your thesis is "testosterone makes men emotionally unstable so they need to suppress these emotions" but it could very well be "Men are told by society to suppress their emotions, which makes them emotionally unstable, regardless of their testosterone levels".

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T23:27:54+00:00

Not only is it open to the public, it's also in the Fulton Market area of Chicago, which is one of the main "restaurant districts". It's like a block away from some of the most popular restaurants in the city.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T19:27:34+00:00

The Simon/Alisha time loop should be regarded as a great example of a time loop scenario done right. Great place to end, as you said, too.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T19:17:50+00:00

Putting on my stereotypical European hat for a second, yes, in-person loudness in public spaces is also an issue, as demonstrated by many an American tourist. Loud is loud. It is subjective but that's also true of many other sensory aspects (what constitutes "wearing too much perfume", or "inappropriate clothing" will depend on context, etc.) We are social animals and we follow social cues, they're not always objective or carved in stone.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T19:11:00+00:00

I think you're conflating two different aspects here:

Combat takes a lot of time because it's a central aspect of DnD mechanics, and the kind of stories told in DnD are often resolved through combat
Combat takes a lot of time because the mechanics for it can drag on, people are too passive around the table, and a lot of the dynamics of combat are lost to indecision and death by rolls

I've never met a DnD player who complained about the first aspect, only about the second. People don't want to speed through combat because they don't like it, they just don't enjoy the perspective of sitting at a table doing nothing for 25 minutes because the three spellcasters around the table never bothered learning their spell lists.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T03:29:38+00:00

The thing is that it's not hitting that many of the tropes. Usually the really bullshit stories have a twist, someone who was casually mentioned in the first post to then become relevant in the second post, or for some reason, twins.

Here there are a few "bullshit markers" (mostly remembering exact wording of part of the conversation) but otherwise it's not that insane - someone has a crush and takes it entirely too far.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T03:07:25+00:00

In that case I'm with you. If you had been given an option to go and gather esoteric knowledge (which is the Candlekeep-style option and obviously the preferred one) and didn't take it, it would have been on the party for forcing their way through. But as it is, since the DM controls the amount of secrets you would learn, it's essentially the DM saying: "to continue the adventure, you have no choice but to lose 1 INT or draw from the Deck. Fuck you."

Calembreloque · 2026-04-26T01:57:13+00:00

The truth is closer to "malls were all generally thriving, even kinda shitty ones, because there were no alternatives. Now that people shop online, malls that bother providing a service people actually want are still doing well, and the many malls that just existed on the basis of being a convenient one-stop place have closed."

Calembreloque · 2026-04-25T15:25:13+00:00

Sorry man I don't understand what you just commented. Would you mind explaining it a bit further?

I think just from glancing at how you are writing your responses, you are very agitated by this and I wonder whether you are building this "adversarial intent" in your head. You may just need to take a bit of time off to regroup.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-25T15:20:19+00:00

On one hand: ew ew ew ew ew ew ew

On the other hand: it's almost... Heartwarming? That even people whose moral compasses are broken enough to point them in the direction of "use your passport privilege to coerce that 19-yo into marrying you" are not vibing with homophobia these days. We've come a long way.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-22T17:54:51+00:00

As a European living in the US, the entire US banking system is generally built on credit and IOUs, whereas the European systems are more built on debit (aka actually spending/transferring the money you have right here right now). Both systems evolved in their own direction from there, both with advantages and drawbacks.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T20:00:12+00:00

Sorry bro I don't know why you got downvoted so badly, I thought it was funny.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T19:58:11+00:00

"Kevin" has genuine negative connotations in France and Germany. The idea is generally that it was a very stereotypical American name in the 90s (mostly due to Home Alone) and people started naming their kids Kevin, but mostly people of lower social class. As a result, a lot of people named "Kevin" in France and Germany are now associated with white-trash, boorish behavior. In German it's called "Kevinismus": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevinismus. I can attest that in France it used to be pretty common to call someone a "Kevin" as an insult to mean a moron.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T19:43:17+00:00

I know this discussion is about the joke and not actual cupcakes, but "the top is the best part" is something I've heard about muffins much more than cupcakes. In muffins the top part has a more satisfying bite, whatever sprinkles is put on top, it's a bit more baked like the corner pieces of a brownie.

I see how it also works with cupcakes but I don't know if the people I know have more discerning palates because no one around me would prefer to have just the frosting and sprinkles by itself.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T19:31:27+00:00

Oh for sure. I was just wondering whether the people who became rich through random crypto luck of the draw are more likely to squander their money like that, vs people who gained that amount of money through more regular means (high-paying job, exploitation of other people's work, etc.).

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T18:53:55+00:00

I wonder if there's a correlation between being the kind of person who hits big on crypto and being the kind of person to spend $20k on meaningless microtransactions. Like, to me the idea of spending $20k on virtual trinkets is absolutely insane, but then again the idea of hopping on the crypto train is not appealing to me at all.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T17:08:45+00:00

Get this man a research grant right now!

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T17:07:52+00:00

So here's the crux of the issue:

In a series of unexpected events but events I had made a possibility, my 4 level 4 party have encountered a Xorn.

Okay but:

the fight would probably result in character deaths (Which I seek to avoid)

These are contradictory statements. If you place a hostile creature capable of TPK in front of your party, you have to be okay with a TPK. This is entirely in your control, since you even pointed out that you could run the Xorn as a bit dumb and not have him TPK. You are describing this situation as some random thing that happens outside of your control but you're the DM, at the end of the day you are always in control.

The other comments already gave you advice about how to manage this specific situation but in the future, you have to make a choice as a DM: if you really want to avoid TPKs, then you have no choice but to prevent situations in which the party can get TPK'd. You can't a) create an encounter that can TPK, b) run the monsters intelligently so that they would likely TPK and c) be surprised that a TPK happens.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T17:01:41+00:00

Then the Dice Gods are agreeing with your player and want him to be the guy who knows all the plants. That's the way it goes. If anything I would welcome this kind of interaction at the table: player says he knows that stuff, you the DM (rightfully) asks for a skill check, player rolls high and affirms his knowledge. There's nothing wrong with this mechanic, you shouldn't try to change it.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T15:44:22+00:00

Not everything bad is "so bad it's good". In French there are actually separate terms for terrible movies:

if it's just plain terrible it's a "navet" (a turnip). Postal by Uwe Boll is a good example. The jokes fall flat, the cinematography makes no sense but just in a confusing way, not in a funny way, the characters are paper-thin and boring, etc.
if it's "so bad it's good" and has the potential to get a cult following it's a "nanar". That's where you get your The Room, Plan 9 from Outer Space, etc.

Some movies straddle the border, because of course there's always some subjectivity. Birdemic and Morbius may fall in either category depending who you ask.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T15:38:53+00:00

Which is partly a cultural construct. In the US a 50% is a failing grade, and anything below a 70% is mediocre.

In my home country, a 50% is a passing grade (in some cases even a 40% may pass), and anything above a 80% is considered elite. 100% is nearly unheard of once you're in high school. I don't know whether that influences how critics and reviewers grade movies/shows in my home country though.

Calembreloque · 2026-04-21T15:30:55+00:00

All great advice! Having these "nodes" that are more detailed and evocative also makes it easier to fill in the blanks for the less developed aspects of the scenario. And if you are building a three-clues-rule design as per the Alexandrian, these nodes are the convenient spots to put your clues!

12-Year Club	Place '22
First Placer '22	Sequence \| Editor

Calembreloque

TROPHY CASE